REFINEMENTS TO ECG TRAIL VISION
as amended on April 1, 2000 and November 7, 2003
Adopted by ECGA Board of Trustees, February 28,1999
The following refinements to the trail vision of the East Coast Greenway Alliance were discussed and adopted at the February 28, 1999 Board of Trustees meeting. These should currently be viewed as an addendum to the Pilot Trail Designation Criteria and Procedure and should enable states to move ahead with more clarity with their tasks of ratifying the ECG corridor and determining the trail alignment. This revised vision language will now be integrated into the Pilot Trail Designation Criteria and Procedure and then incorporated int a trail designation handbook, planned to be issued by the end of 1999.
The Trail Vision
The ECG is a north-south trail system linking cities from Maine to Florida. It consists of a spine trail and a limited number of alternate trails. The spine trail is the pririty concern of the ECGA. It makes a direct, off-street connection between and through (not around) cities the Alliance designated as key destinations for the ECG.
Where close, parallel trails are feasible (e.g., along two sides of a river, or as alternate routes through a city) more than one may be designated part of the spine route.
ECGA alternate trails provide additional off-road connections between points along the spine route. A limited number of altenate trails may be designated to achieve the following purposes:
1. to provide a near-term link in the ECG when the spine route appears a long-term reality
2. to provide access to a pivotal city or scenic, historic or cultural region of tourism destination within close range of the spine trail
3. to incorporate an especially scenic, high-quality trail
4. to address areas where the spine trail cannot accommodate all desired user modes (e.g., equestrians) the spine may separate into strands within reasonable proximity to each other for the various user sin order to achieve the goal of a continuous, traffic-free route for all non-motorized users.
The Class C designation (connecting routes) has been modified to Interim Connecting Routes. This will enable us to temporarily designate those sections of trail which provide needed links between two class A or B segments by using a segment which is below standard, including both below-standard trail segments and on-road sections. The following wording shall be added ti this section of our "pilot" document that makes clear that Interim Connecting Routes may be de-designated at a later date when a higher quality trail segment is identified:
When a superior route is found to take the place of an Interim Connecting Route the Interim Connecting Route may be either de-designated and removed from the ECG trail system or re-designated by the Alliance Board of Trustees as an alternate route if it meets the criteria.
This possibility of de-designation of interim routes should be made clear to all parties involved whenever one of these trail sections is up for designation as an Interim Connecting Route.
The Route Definition Process
To identify a specific alignment for the East Coast Greenway, a first step is the definition of the ECG corridor. The ECG route corridor is defined by a line making a relatively direct connection between the key cities of the east coast, defined below. It is the preferred location for the spine ECG trail and states are urged to locate the trail as closely as possible to this center line. The cities which the ECG must link are:
Calais, ME Bangor, ME Portland, ME Portsmouth, NH Boston, MA Providence, RI |
Hartford, CT New Haven, CT New York City, NY Jersey City, NJ** Newark, NJ** Trenton, NJ |
Philadelphia, PA Wilmington, DE Baltimore, MD Annapolis, MD Washington, DC Richmond, VA |
Raleigh, NC* Wilmington, NC Charleston, SC Savannah, GA Jacksonville, FL Miami, FL Key West, FL |
The Alliance has adopted these defining cities and the related corridor as depicted on the attached map. Each state committee is asked to ratify this corridor through their state and submit a ratification report to the Alliance BOT or report promptly to the Alliance any issues they have with this corridor. This report should be submitted by March 28 for the mid-Atlantic states and by April 6 for the New England states. The Southeast states should report by September 15 of 1999.
Upon approving the corridor, each state shall begin the work of identifying a specific trail alignment which adheres as closely as possible to this corridor. Each state shall by the date of their 1999 regional meeting present to the Alliance a state route map showing both the corridor and a specific spine trail alignment within that corridor. Alternate routes may also be identified which may deviate from the corridor, although proximity to the corridor is preferred.
The states shall refer to the Pilot Trail Designation Criteria and Procedure dated June 16, 1996, Section C (Guideline Criteria for Trail Designation) and Section D (Minimum Criteria for Full Trail Designation) to ensure that trails being recommended meet the criteria of the Alliance.
Once the Alliance has ratified the proposed trail alignment within a state, the state may move with diligence to get that trail acquired, funded, developed, and designated as part of the ECG trail system.
If adopted, these policy refinements will be given immediately to the states to aid in their task of defining our trail and nominating segments for designation. These policy changes will also be incorporated into our trail document: Pilot Trail Designation Criteria and Procedure. Our plan is for this document to become part of a proposed Trail Routing and Designation Handbook which will facilitate the participation of all parties involved in the routing, nomination and designation of the ECG trail system. In addition to these criteria, the handbook will provide an explanation with flow chart of the trail routing and designation process, the forms related to nomination and evaluation of trail designations, a model Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the trail managing entity and the ECGA, and samples of signage with guidelines on its placement.